Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

NEWS

Testimony: The Vital Importance of the Endangered Species Act For more than 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has sounded the alarm whenever wildlife faces extinction. Today, we have wolves in Yellowstone, manatees in Florida, and sea otters in California, largely because of the Act. We can still see bald eagles in the lower 48 states and other magnificent creatures like the peregrine falcon, the American alligator, and California condors, largely because of the Act. Indeed, there can be no denying that, with the Endangered Species Act’s help, hundreds of species have been rescued from the catastrophic permanence of extinction. Many have seen their populations stabilized; some have actually seen their populations grow. Some have even benefited from comprehensive recovery and habitat conservation efforts to the point where they no longer need the protections of the Act. In so many ways, Congress was prescient in the original construction of the Endangered Species Act. First, it crafted an Act that spoke specifically to the value - tangible and intangible - of conserving species for future generations, a key point sometimes lost in today’s discussions.... Feds kill wolves in Wyoming Wildlife officials have killed a female wolf and four pups outside Farson, after the wolves killed 13 pregnant ewes over two nights. Mike Jimenez, Wyoming wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the wolves killed seven ewes the first night -- about June 7, according to sheep owner Jim Magagna. Officers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services were sent to trap and collar the wolves. But the next night, the wolves killed six more ewes, and Jimenez said a decision was made to kill whatever wolves were in the area. The area is about 35 miles northeast of Farson in the foothills of the Wind River Mountains. Wildlife Services officers caught the female, found her den and killed the mother and four pups last week. A male wolf -- also seen in the area in April -- was not found and did not come back to the den site, which Jimenez said was "not typical."....ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS OPPOSE GRAZING DECISION ON THE SANTA FE NATIONAL FOREST Forest Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity today appealed a decision on the Santa Fe National Forest which would permit continued livestock grazing in fragile wetland areas and in areas with outstanding archeological resources. The Decision Notice for the San Diego Range Project failed to adequately protect areas within the forest that provide habitat for the bald eagle, the Mexican spotted owl, the northern goshawk, the western yellow-billed cuckoo, the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, the Rio Grande chub, and a host of other migratory and resident wildlife species. “We urged the forest to consider closing riparian areas to cattle, offering them time to recover from historical abuse,” said Greta Anderson, Grazing Reform Program Coordinator at the Tucson–based Center for Biological Diversity. “The Forest knows that the cattle adversely impact wetland areas and the sensitive species that depend on them. This decision neglects the facts.” The allotment contains a large number of archeological resources, including ancestral Jemez Pueblo sites, but the Forest Service refused to protect all but a small portion of the known artifacts....Column: Salmon find a judge who listens For more than 20 years, the fate of 13 threatened and endangered salmon stocks in the Pacific Northwest has been a contest between the status quo agenda of politicians and power producers and a legacy of the Nixon era, the Endangered Species Act. A few months ago, many of us in the press who have been following the salmon story predicted that the Bush administration's long awaited recovery plan would end up as confetti in a judicial paper shredder. And so it has. U.S. District Court Judge James Redden ruled three weeks ago that the Bush plan violates federal law on four counts and amounts to a "shameless assault on the Endangered Species Act." Judge Redden's mounting frustration was evident June 10 when he convened warring stakeholders to his courtroom in Portland, Ore. A no-nonsense man who seems keenly aware that the clock is ticking toward extinction for salmon, Redden characterized the new Bush plan as "an exercise in cynicism." Then he delivered the bombshell he'd held in reserve....BP to talk about well expansion La Plata County will host two public forums this week to address community concerns about a BP proposal to double the number of wellheads on 65 square miles south of U.S. Highway 160 between Durango and Bayfield. Representatives from the multinational gas giant will deliver a presentation to property owners and community members on the planned coal-bed methane wells Tuesday evening in Bayfield and Wednesday evening in Durango. BP officials and county representatives also will field questions at five separate booths. Each booth will address what BP calls an "area of community interest," said Dan Larson, a company spokesman. Those topics are drilling techniques, well pads, major facilities, the environment and land, he said....Senate Passes Bill That Strives to Balance Oil and Alternatives The Senate overwhelmingly passed broad energy legislation on Tuesday, with its authors hoping the bill strikes a balance between traditional and alternative sources of power that can break a four-year Congressional stalemate over energy policy. By a bipartisan vote of 85 to 12, the Senate approved a bill that includes $14 billion in tax incentives for oil and gas production as well as development of wind, solar and other emerging energy sources. It also rewards buyers of energy-efficient appliances and hybrid cars. The measure includes an additional $36 billion in energy-related projects, though many of them will require additional approval by Congress. The shape of the Senate measure sets up a clash with the House, which has already passed its own version emphasizing increased domestic oil and gas production. The House also included a controversial plan to grant product liability immunity to producers of the gasoline additive MTBE, which has polluted groundwater around the nation. The White House also objects to parts of the Senate bill, challenging its cost and its plan to require utilities to use more renewable fuels to generate electricity....NOAA Scientists Say Reports Altered Many scientists at NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency responsible for balancing hydroelectric dams against endangered salmon, say they know of cases where scientific findings were altered at the request of commercial interests, according to a survey released Tuesday by two watchdog groups. The survey was conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The survey posed 34 questions and was sent to 460 NOAA Fisheries scientists across the country. Responses came back from 124, or 27 percent. "The conclusion is that political interference is a serious problem at NOAA Fisheries," Lexis Schulz, Washington representative of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said from Washington....Salmon: Protect the evidence Sen. Larry Craig is illuminating the debate around saving fish. The Idaho Republican is making it clear that the opponents of salmon protection feel no need for the light of facts. Indeed, Craig is trying to eliminate scientific evidence of what is happening to fish in the Columbia River system. A Senate appropriations bill includes report language intended to kill an agency that has been collecting data on the survival of salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers. The effect of Craig's language would be to make it difficult or impossible for the Bonneville Power Administration to continue funding the vital work of the tiny, 11-person Fish Passage Center in Portland. Craig and others are angry about recent federal court rulings protecting endangered fish. The center's work has helped make clear the serious problems salmon still face....Bear returned to wild after Tucson romp With a sharp poke to the posterior, a 350-pound black bear scampered into the scrub of central Arizona on Monday, chasing after a second chance at life in the wild. The bear, an adult male estimated to be 15 years old, was captured nearly three weeks ago in an east Tucson neighborhood after he had wandered down from the Santa Catalina Mountains, traipsed through some yards and ended up tumbling into a backyard swimming pool. Treated for a broken tooth suffered in the capture melee and tranquilized for the trip north, the bear was released far from his southern Arizona haunt in the hopes of preventing future incursions into urban areas....Preserve for endangered fly dedicated Calling it the wave of the future for endangered species protections, federal wildlife officials on Monday helped dedicate a 150-acre field in Colton as a permanent preserve for an endangered fly. Some developers who have been stymied by protections for the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly will buy credits to help manage the preserve so their projects can go forward. It is the first conservation bank for the insect, although a few banks exist for other Inland species. "We hope and anticipate the new enterprise will be a big payoff to you," Mike Fris, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's regional program manger for endangered species, said to Colton officials at the ceremony....Report reveals cost of critical habitat designation The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Monday that conservation for 15 vernal pool species will affect $992 million in economic activity over the next 20 years, with 97 percent of that relating to lost development opportunities. A press release from the Fish and Wildlife Service defines "critical habitat" as "geographic areas that contain features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management considerations or protections." The critical habitat designation covers 740,000 acres in California and one county in Oregon. Originally, the area of land would have covered about 1.2 million acres....Feds, some Rainbow members make deal Federal prosecutors cut deals with several members of the Rainbow Family on Tuesday, allowing them to pay $30 or perform eight hours of community service without pleading guilty to violating a land-use permit rule in the Monongahela National Forest. The offer prompted free assembly advocate Scott Addison of St. Louis to call Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Warner “uniquely humane.’’ “This is one of the good guys,’’ he said. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Kaull held court in a small meeting room at the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center near Hillsboro, ushering through the first of about 145 defendants in groups of nine or fewer. The proceedings were expected to last all day with trials Tuesday afternoon for those who rejected the offer....Wires could bring land battles Jerry Dilts is no stranger to energy development. When he flies over his cattle and sheep ranch in southern Campbell County he can spot a railroad in the vicinity, several power lines and even some oil and gas wells. In most cases, when an oil and gas company or power company wants to cross his land, Dilts can negotiate an agreeable route. So when Basin Electric Power Cooperative asked to cross the ranch with its "Carr Draw" 230,000-kilovolt line to accommodate the coal-bed methane industry, he insisted that it remain within an existing easement. But Basin insisted on another route, Dilts said. He and several neighbors suspected the company preferred crossing private land than navigate the public process of crossing federal lands in the area. So they took up a legal fight that is still under consideration by the Wyoming Supreme Court....Editorial: Wolf return one step closer The long, slow effort to rebuild wolf populations in Montana took another step toward a successful conclusion last week when the federal government turned over control to the state. The Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks will begin handling day-to-day management duties formerly conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — still under the watchful eyes of the feds, but finally in charge. Montana is the furthest along in the region, which includes Idaho and Wyoming. Wyoming, holding out for much more relaxed rules for shooting wolves as predators, has been acting as a brake on the whole process for several years. Wyoming, of course, is the least urban of states in the region, and it remains steeped in the rural agricultural mindset that sees wolves as a rancher's most implacable enemy....Mountain lions have arrived, biologists say Biologists and Game and Fish Department officials believe North Dakota may have acquired a population of mountain lions over the past few years, though they are not sure of the numbers. Mike Oehler, a Theodore Roosevelt National Park biologist, said he is "convinced we have resident lions." Both men say the animals' nocturnal nature, and the fact that home to a lion often covers hundreds of square miles, make them difficult to count. Ranchers and hunters report animals in the Badlands area that were likely lion kills. Oehler said park rangers have come across "periodic kills and tracks occasionally," but he has no idea of the actual number of lions in the area. Game and Fish Department biologist Doro-thy Fecske said earlier that there were 67 cougar sightings in North Dakota last year, but only seven were confirmed. Last week, two mountain bikers said a lion shadowed them along the Maah Daah Hey trail in southwestern North Dakota. They escaped injury after throwing rocks and sticks and screaming at the cougar, and using their bicycles as shields.... Solutions to water concerns a hard sell to rural residents Visit almost any rural Arizona community and you'll see evidence of how much people there think about water. Lawns and lush landscaping are rare. A permanent sign outside Pine communicates the status of water alerts. Cards in Payson restaurants explain why customers must ask for water and warn restroom patrons not to waste it. Rain gutters on homes and businesses in Chino Valley and Tusayan empty into collecting tanks that supply outdoor use. Rural Arizonans get it: There won't be enough water to go around if it's wasted, and there may not be enough anyway if the number of rural Arizonans keeps climbing. Not as clear is how to solve that problem, which isn't really a single problem but a wide range of them, each as distinct as the geography itself....Hunters fight for desert 'guzzlers' A simmering battle over desert water tanks once used by range cattle is pitting hunting and wildlife groups against environmentalists. Hunters of big and small game in the Mojave National Preserve claim it is vital to retain artificial watering sites in a 600,000-acre area in Lanfair Valley, near Needles, but two environmental groups say the water holes actually will harm wildlife. Scores of hunters, wildlife advocates and conservationists gathered here Monday to include their views in an environmental assessment being prepared by the National Park Service....Protesters target utility’s water-usage applications for planned power plant In an opening salvo in the fight over Sempra Energy’s proposed large coal-fired power plant near Gerlach, the state water engineer’s office has been flooded with protests over the first batch of water-use approvals sought for the plant. As of Monday’s deadline, the office has received 11 protests over Sempra’s first six applications to convert part of 25,000 acre-feet of water from agricultural to industrial use for the 1,450-megawatt power plant planned on the Smoke Creek Desert west of Gerlach, about 100 miles north of Reno. Of the water rights, 16,000 acre-feet would evaporate every year in cooling processes for the $2 billion power plant. Excess water rights are required because agricultural uses put some water back into the aquifer....Appeals court keeps beef checkoff case alive A federal appeals court has kept alive a Montana challenge to the beef checkoff marketing fee, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that the government has the right to force beef producers to pay the fee. In a three-page order, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Shepherd-area ranchers Steve and Jeanne Charter can argue before a federal judge that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has wrongly tried to pass off the advertising as expressing the views of individual cattle producers. The nation's high court acknowledged in its May 23 decision that such an argument still could be made, the circuit court said....New Case of Mad Cow Spurs Talk of Tracking The latest case of mad cow disease has brought new talk of a national livestock tracking system, something the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee says the beef industry can create more quickly than the government. The government is still trying to pinpoint the herd of the infected cow, a "downer" that could not walk and was at least 8 years old. The Agriculture Department, which confirmed the new case on Friday, is using DNA analysis because the cow's breed was mislabeled and its tissues got mixed with parts from other cows. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said a system to track the movements of the nation's 96 million cattle needs to be running "as soon as possible." The government's goal is to make a system mandatory by January 2009, but Goodlatte said the industry can create a tracking system more swiftly.... Book celebrates cooking over an open fire Forest rangers reigned as the camp cooking masters, says Beth King, editor of Camp Cooking: 100 Years (Gibbs Smith, $9.95), a new cookbook that celebrates the centennial this year of the Forest Service. When the agency was founded in 1905, rangers were asked to furnish their own supplies for the job, says King, a technical information specialist with the U.S. Forest Service office in Ogden. "The pay was about $60 a month and part of the job was furnishing two horses, one to ride, one to pack gear, a gun, a saddle and enough food for a few weeks." A ranger's food supplies were limited to flour, sugar, cured meats, dried beans, rice and a few canned items, according to the manuscript of noted ranger Sterling Righteous Justice, who started his career in 1908. Rangers slept in small teepees, which were light and could withstand any storm. And they carried small Dutch ovens for baking and cooking. Pay was $2.50 a day.... Rodeo's wild ride As we celebrate 229 years of independence July 4, bull riders, ropers and steer wrestlers across the country will observe an annual tradition of their own: "Cowboy Christmas," one of the rodeo circuit's richest weekends of the year. With 35 rodeos set to take place, competitors will vie for $1.4 million in prize money awarded in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association-sponsored events. Each year, about 24 million people go to rodeos; the sport ranks seventh in attendance, ahead of pro golf and tennis. Some 60 million more watch televised rodeo events. USA WEEKEND Magazine asked W.K. "Kipp" Stratton, 49, the author of the recent book "Chasing the Rodeo" (Harcourt, $25), to tell us why he loves the sport. "In the 1800s, you could create a destiny in the West, start a new life," he says. "The rodeo still holds that promise for people today. It's the only sport that grew out of our national myth of the West." Here's why Stratton says rodeos are worth a look....